This 12.4 mp camera features a CMOS sensor, with advanced image processing and performance coming from the Pentax PRIME II engine. You'll experience beautifully smooth and detailed photos from this great DSLR!

When it comes to composing your photos, the Pentax K-x Digital SLR Camera provides an optical viewfinder as well as a Live View function, which lets you frame your pictures on the camera's generous 2.7" TFT monitor.

Photographic demons such as dust and camera-shake are fought off by the Pentax K-x Digital SLR, too, thanks to an integrated Dust Removal system and built-in sensor-shift image stabilisation. The net result will be consistently pin-sharp pictures which require minimal Photoshop work!

Video shooters will also be delighted at the 720p High Definition movie capability with a 24fps frame rate. Switch between stills shooting and movie capture with ease!

The two lenses included in this Pentax Kx Digital SLR Camera + 18-55mm Zoom Lens & 50-200mm Zoom Lens twin-lens kit equate to 27-82.5mm and 75-300mm lenses in 35mm equivalent terms. With this small kit you'll be able to capture almost any subject which crosses your path, from a sweeping vista to mid-range wildlife and sports pictures.

The Pentax K-x Digital SLR Camera is an easy-to-use camera which provides all the automation or manual control you need. Whether you're a novice photographer or a little more experienced, this affordable kit has something to offer, and its compact design makes it painless to carry your gear around.

wow - great price.Just shows that for a similar Canon/Nikon your are just paying for the brand name

11th Nov 2010

Omg I bought this not so long ago for £450 Even so for the price I paid I'm over the moon with it and at this price you be silly not to buy one. It really is an excellent beginner dslr with great lowlight shooting abilities. This camera really does punch above its weight. Nice find OP!

11th Nov 2010

Sliwka

Very good price for all this, heat added. If you are looking for … Very good price for all this, heat added. If you are looking for something: smaller SamsungPL100 for £89 http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/samsung-pl100-only-89-3-quidco-curr/797895

smaller DSLR?

11th Nov 2010

These are great cameras. Pentax make really interesting stuff, thats better value than Nikon and Cancon.

11th Nov 2010

Are the lenses cheap?

11th Nov 2010

pitsapatsa

wow - great price.Just shows that for a similar Canon/Nikon your are just … wow - great price.Just shows that for a similar Canon/Nikon your are just paying for the brand name

Not quite; both Canon and Nikon's nearest equivalents do have advantages (see dpreview.com/rev…asp) but this does seem good value nonetheless. There's also something of an advantage to shooting a commonly-used camera, so as to gain the advantage to borrow lenses and buy them used.

11th Nov 2010

Can ANYONE telll me?

I'm considering one of these as its been a long time since my SLR days BUT I still have a LOAD (About 7x Inc 1x 80-180 Zoom) M42 screw lenses from the past.

Is it worth hanging on to them?

I'm fairly sure that you can get adaptors

Edited by: "rizla01" 11th Nov 2010

Original Poster11th Nov 2010

rizla01

Can ANYONE telll me?I'm considering one of these as its been a long time … Can ANYONE telll me?I'm considering one of these as its been a long time since my SLR days BUT I still have a LOAD (About 7x Inc 1x 80-180 Zoom) M42 screw lenses from the past.Is it worth hanging on to them?I'm fairly sure that you can get adaptors

I stand to be corrected, but I am pretty sure M42 thread lenses will fit Pentax cameras without the need for any adaptors. The only thing is that focus and possibly aperture settings as well, will most likely have to be set manually. I'm almost 100% certain the lenses will fit and work fine, though.

PS. Sorry, being dumb, of course it will need an adaptor.

Edited by: "andyken" 11th Nov 2010

11th Nov 2010

You cant reserve it using the code...how annoying

11th Nov 2010

Great little camera, hot. Bought a twin lens kit from Currys at a higher price. I do wish I'd paid extra to get the 50-300mm zoom.

With adaptor M42 lenses will fit, although they will only meter in manual mode

11th Nov 2010

Sorry to be ignorant but what difference will metering in Manual mode make?

Never had AF in those days.

Would I be correct in saying that this means BOTH exposure AND aperture would have to be set by me? Therefore I would be best advised to hang on to my trusty light meter too, then?

Having said that with AF DSLR's does anyone still use a light meter?

11th Nov 2010

This or the Canon Eos 500d?

11th Nov 2010

Cracking package for the money.

11th Nov 2010

Which one, Canon Eos 500d, Nikon D3100 or this one?

11th Nov 2010

I've got a Minolta autometer 111. Bought a new battery, as I hadn't used it in years. And I still haven't used it.I don't have any M42 lenses, but I do have a K and KA lenses. KA communicates perfectly with the camera. With K lenses you set the aperture, press a green button which steps it down to that aperture and meters correctly. I've only used this with an old Tamron macro lens. I found that I used this as a starting point, took a test shot, and then adjusted (opened up a stop). The beauty of digital over film is doing that test shot costs nothing

11th Nov 2010

I've tried to order but the curry's page keeps redirecting me after payment back to the 'select payment type page' anyone had luck?

11th Nov 2010

There are a multitude of superb Pentax lenses from the past that will fit this camera just fine. I've a load of Pentax KA SMC lenses lying unusued alonside my Super-A body (who remembers those?!). Shame I'm broke right now as would love to dust the old beauts off.

11th Nov 2010

pitsapatsa

wow - great price.Just shows that for a similar Canon/Nikon your are just … wow - great price.Just shows that for a similar Canon/Nikon your are just paying for the brand name

yeah forget the crystal clear IQ and build quality of their kit... (_;)

Got the Samsung GX-L1 that was posted here a while back - has the same two kit lenses. I have to say that the 50-200mm lens is superb and is one of my favourite lenses. Soon got the Canon envy and got myself a 40D last year. Basically Canon are no.1 - never seen any paps using anything other than Canon/Nikon.Look in any photo mag in WHSmiths and most published photos are taken with Canon or Nikon - other makes are just over-looked (maybe Sony are just creeping in there), think it's some sort of snobbery.

11th Nov 2010

This isnt available for home delivery how can you get the £25 off on the collect in store?

11th Nov 2010

you cant Nassar

11th Nov 2010

bargainhunter2009

you cant Nassar

Hi, so does this mean this deal is expired

Original Poster11th Nov 2010

Nassar

Hi, so does this mean this deal is expired

says on the order page that you can enter the promotional code at the end of the checkout process.

11th Nov 2010

andyken

says on the order page that you can enter the promotional code at the end … says on the order page that you can enter the promotional code at the end of the checkout process.

they are lyingyou cant

11th Nov 2010

rodman

says on the order page that you can enter the promotional code at the end … says on the order page that you can enter the promotional code at the end of the checkout process.

they are lyingyou cant[/quote]

So it looks like is effectively a £399.99 deal? Still a great price IMO.

However, would the kit with a 55-300mm lens for £479.00 here be worth the extra?

it is a far superior lens. Highly rated and well worth the £100 extra. It used to be £525 at its cheapest.The 50-200mm lens is a nice cheap option, but not in the same league and if you want as nice lens it becomes superfluous.

The Pentax SMC DA 55-300mm f/4-5.8 ED is a viable choice when it comes to an affordable long range tele lens. The resolution figures are pretty decent and in field conditions it shines with a snappy contrast characteristic. The secondary characteristics (vignetting, distortions, CAs) are about average for a lens in this class. All-in-all it is optically superior compared to its smaller cousin, the SMC DA 50-200mm f/4-5.6 ED. The build quality of the lens is fine and the AF is fast enough for most applications. A sound offer relative to its pricing.

Lately we've seen a couple of impressively performing budget tele zooms like the Nikkor AF-S 55-200mm f/4-5.6 IF-ED VR but, unfortunately, the Pentax SMC-DA 50-200mm f/4-5.6 ED is not in this league. The resolution characteristic of the lens is rather mediocre - the image borders at 200mm and more so at 50mm are very soft at large aperture settings. For portraits or close-ups this is a lesser problem because the borders are usually a non-issue here but for long distance images you better stop down to f/8 or better f/11 to get decent results. On the plus side the bokeh (out-of-focus blur) is pretty nice (for a slow-speed lens) and CAs as well as distortions are quite well controlled. The level of vignetting is fairly high at wide-open aperture although not a big issue beyond. The build quality of this extremely compact lens is pretty decent. All-in-all you should prefer the Pentax DA 55-300mm f/4-5.6 ED instead.

11th Nov 2010

eye will

The camera with the 55mm-300mm lens is available … The camera with the 55mm-300mm lens is available here:[url=http://www.cliftoncameras.co.uk/Pentax_KX_with_18-55mm_DAL_and_55-300mm_DAL]http://www.cliftoncameras.co.uk/Pentax_KX_with_18-55mm_DAL_and_55-300mm_DAL[/url]it is a far superior lens. Highly rated and well worth the £100 extra. It used to be £525 at its cheapest.

As there is no home delivery option and the £25 off code cannot be applied to collect in store purchases the Clifton deal is £79 more

Do you know anything about Clifton Cameras? Are they reliable? BTW you can use the code "pentaxpro" to save on delivery.

Pentax is part of the Hoya group and they make very good industrial lenses. Hoya is famous for filter, so all glass-related.

Edited by: "pet2000" 11th Nov 2010

Original Poster11th Nov 2010

Thanks for the info, guys. Have changed the price in the title to £399.99, to be on the safe side, but it may still be possible to phone Currys and explain that the web page definitely says can use code, so try to get it applied over the phone instead - just an idea, not sure if it will work, but worth a try for £25.

11th Nov 2010

* No autofocus points in viewfinder, probably the most serious omission * Auto-exposure tends to the dark side in low light settings * The shutter is quite noisy, not suitable for candid shots * The LED could be a little bigger and sharper * Autofocus is slow in Live View * There are serious limitations in video mode * Auto-ISO doesn’t work in manual mode * K-x uses 4 AA batteries

11th Nov 2010

Darthchaffinch

* No autofocus points in viewfinder, probably the most serious omission … * No autofocus points in viewfinder, probably the most serious omission * Auto-exposure tends to the dark side in low light settings * The shutter is quite noisy, not suitable for candid shots * The LED could be a little bigger and sharper * Autofocus is slow in Live View * There are serious limitations in video mode * Auto-ISO doesn’t work in manual mode * K-x uses 4 AA batteries

And worse of all, you can't make or receive calls!!!

11th Nov 2010

* No autofocus points in viewfinder, probably the most serious omission* … * No autofocus points in viewfinder, probably the most serious omission* Auto-exposure tends to the dark side in low light settings* The shutter is quite noisy, not suitable for candid shots* The LED could be a little bigger and sharper* Autofocus is slow in Live View* There are serious limitations in video mode* Auto-ISO doesn’t work in manual mode* K-x uses 4 AA batteries

Maybe I'll get a camera with a mains lead, I can't have one with AA batteries.Rumour has it that there is no GPS either.

11th Nov 2010

Darthchaffinch

* No autofocus points in viewfinder, probably the most serious omission* … * No autofocus points in viewfinder, probably the most serious omission* Auto-exposure tends to the dark side in low light settings* The shutter is quite noisy, not suitable for candid shots* The LED could be a little bigger and sharper* Autofocus is slow in Live View* There are serious limitations in video mode* Auto-ISO doesn’t work in manual mode* K-x uses 4 AA batteries

Not quite sure what that proves, all cameras have some niggling ergonomic faults. For example

■Visibly more noise in RAW files than some of the competition■Slightly less highlight range in JPGs than the competition■Relatively limited RAW headroom, channel clipping means color accuracy can often not be maintained when recovering clipped areas in RAW conversion■Metering has occasional tendencies to overexpose in very bright, contrasty conditions■Unreliable auto white balance and presets under artificial light■Still slightly plasticy appearance and surfaces■Grip is a little small for larger hands■Flash has to be raised for AF assist (although AF is good even in low light) ■Limited exposure compensation range (+/- 2.0 EV)■Contrast detect AF so slow it's useless for most types of photography (it's the same for most of the competition though)■Slightly more expensive than the competition

That's the Canon EOS500D. For this price, the Pentax is an excellent buy.

11th Nov 2010

rizla01

Can ANYONE telll me?I'm considering one of these as its been a long time … Can ANYONE telll me?I'm considering one of these as its been a long time since my SLR days BUT I still have a LOAD (About 7x Inc 1x 80-180 Zoom) M42 screw lenses from the past.Is it worth hanging on to them?I'm fairly sure that you can get adaptors

No - you can't - not without adapters. This is not a screw fit camera, they don't make those any more. And as others point out, you then lose the auto-characteristics of the lenses (if they had it in the first place)

12th Nov 2010

booshmoon

Got the Samsung GX-L1 that was posted here a while back - has the same … Got the Samsung GX-L1 that was posted here a while back - has the same two kit lenses. I have to say that the 50-200mm lens is superb and is one of my favourite lenses. Soon got the Canon envy and got myself a 40D last year. Basically Canon are no.1 - never seen any paps using anything other than Canon/Nikon.Look in any photo mag in WHSmiths and most published photos are taken with Canon or Nikon - other makes are just over-looked (maybe Sony are just creeping in there), think it's some sort of snobbery.

Snobbery, absolutely. "Canon are no. 1" eh? The majority do end to stick with the mainstream regardless. No so long ago Pentax were top dogs. The cameras they produce are very nice to hold and use, and as for the image quality, definitely very very good, and certainly good enough for some of the fanboy morons who insist on blindly putting them down due to "reviews" they've read and not through actual use.

My 6 year old Pentax DS ("only" 6mp OMG the shame!) is still excellent - and get this, the image quality remains unaffected by any new camera released to the market. With 25 year old glass...

Note that when I bought my Pentax DS 6 years ago, the equivalent Canon ("Rebel" or something) was HIDEOUS in comparison. Hideous. Plastic, and feeble, with ok IQ. But which one sold the most?

PS: The Samsung equivalents were / are an excellent way of shaving yet more off the price if you want a Pentax - due to snobbery again - the Samsungs essentially being the same cameras with a different badge.